Friday, September 07, 2007

Breaking: Rick Ankiel is a cheater. Surprisingly, I feel absolutely crushed by this. More in a moment.

Big day today. Huge day. So big, in fact, that I'll have five posts today: This one, the first, the usual "A.M. Quickie." Then one on Ankiel. The next one is dedicated to what is arguably the biggest college football game of the season. The third one will be dedicated to tomorrow's college football slate. The fourth will be dedicated to Sunday's NFL openers. (Including picks, of course.) So check back often!

Colts 41, Saints 10: Peyton had 3 TDs and fantasy rising star Joseph Addai had 1. Yup: Sounds about right for Indy. The shocker was that the Indy D shut down the vaunted Saints offense. Maybe we're all overlooking the defending champs as repeat contenders.

(Predictions debacle: Between missing the game prediction, having my pick of the Saints as NFC Champs look iffy and my pick of Drew Brees look even iffier, it was a three-strikes night for me and my predictions.)

Brian Brohm will be my No. 1 Heisman contender on Sunday, no matter what happens on Saturday around the country.

Brohm threw for 5 TDs and a career-high 401 yards, and – amazingly – his team needed every one of them in a 58-42 win over Middle Tennessee.

Not to put too much pressure on him, but Brohm could be the next Peyton Manning. He's certainly the most gifted QB to come out of college football since Manning (and I include Carson Palmer in that). Brohm would look awfully good in a Falcons uniform playing for his old college coach Bobby Petrino, if Atlanta can see the wisdom in tanking its way to the No. 1 overall pick in a year most already consider lost.

(As I leapfrog Brohm up my Heisman rankings, I am going to drop Louisville out of the Top 5 – they were No. 3 this week for me.)

AP Poll to include 1-AA teams, if they're worthy: Well, well, well... I am surprised and delighted again by the otherwise flawed AP poll. They will let 1-AA teams in if they are voted in.

Now, they might as well call this the "AppState" exemption, because it was AppState's win over Michigan that is the only reason we're talking about this. And it pretty much only matters for last week's ballot, so thanks for nothing, AP.

Because the questions are: Where would you have ranked them this week and how long would you keep them in the rankings once they start playing lower-division teams exclusively?

I would have ranked AppState in my Top 20 this week for their season-opening effort; I quickly would have dropped them down and quickly/eventually out as the season went on, much like AppState's chances on the field against a Top 5 team. Week 1? No problem. Subsequent weeks? They would have increasing problems with pulling off that win.

Still, I'm sure many AP voters will give App State Top 25 votes this week. It will be a week too late, but still... it's something.

Tonight's Top 25 CFB: Rutgers over Navy. Another win for one of my Top 10 teams.

Cards: Honus Wagner card sells for a record $2.8M, just months after it sold for a record $2.35M. How ironic that one of the baseball legends is best-known for his status as the greatest trading-card icon?

Vick Watch: I wasn't so sure about the $3,000 bid for the dog-chewed Vick football cards, but I think the $10,000 bid for Vick's apology press-conference crib sheet is a damn interesting artifact of our time.

MLB Stud: Rick Ankiel, who had 2 HR and 7 RBI. Isn't that ironic?

MLB Dud: The Cubs, who blew a late lead and were stunned by a 9th-inning pinch-hit 3-run HR by Andre Ethier.

Varsity Dad: Sunday NFL Countdown will include a segment with a 5th-grader. (It's only a matter of time before College GameDay comes calling me about featuring my own kid, I can feel it!)

But can we stop for a minute and talk about Louisville's defense? I mean, and all espn wanted to talk about was their "resilience in the face of adversity"....(?!) this is the number 8 team in the country getting burned deep for 3 plays over 70 yards by a directional tennessee school...

Brohm is amazing...no doubt about it, and the thought of that offense against west virginia's improving secondary scares me a bit....but....if MTSU can put up 43 with a mess of turnovers...and @ Lville nonetheless....

I gotta believe the Mountaineers drop 80 on Nov. 8 in Morgantown...(ok, relax...jokes)

...I'd say the most impressive thing about last night was Cincy's beatdown of Oregon state...on national spotlight showing how improved the big east is, and how there is depth in this conference...

Tiki Barber is a dumbass. I can say the same for Jerome Bettis.Ex-Athletes should just not try to write "tell-alls" because they'll just reveal what total douches they really are.

Allowing I-AA teams into the poll is a good thing. Again, only the FINAL poll matters so if an FCS team beats an FBS team that is ranked, stick em in the poll for a week or two.I'm sure whoever would have been #25 that week that got bumped to #26 won't be THAT offended.

The way the UL defense played last night, I gotta believe USF drop 80 on Louisville...

That wasn't just horrible defense: that was lack of defense. It was the old Spurrier mentality (The defense's job is to give the offense back the ball, whether through a turnover, punt, or if it comes to it, giving up a TD) only without the top-notch defensive athletes to make up for it.

Giants players are saying that this is the closest knit team in a few years, that the offense is actually hanging out with defense. Cannot help but wonder if that is because Tiki gone and a 1 1/2 month holdout of Strahan had anything to do with that?

I don't think, even this week, you can put App State (or "ASU" as we in North Carolina call them) in the Top 25. They barely beat what was, obviously, NOT a Top 25 team. I don't think beating a non-Top 25 team puts you into the Top 25.

Now, should Michigan come back and begin ascending the rankings and ASU win all of its I-AA games convincingly, then they might warrant a vote.

I was thinking while watching Tiki babble last night that if he gets bored and misses football he could totally take Ronde's place for a week and as bad as the bucs d will be this year no one would probably know.

The Indy/NO game was a yawner for me. I am glad I switched over to the Louisville game a few minutes in because that first quarter was among the bet I have ever seen.

playing the colts has nothing to do with a 1st place schedule, it's an interconference game....

in fact, a "first place" schedule only affects 2 of your 16 games each year. the rest were drawn up back in 2001 as part of an 8-year cycle. But it does mean the Saints will play all the NFC 1st place teams from last year.

He's going on about the biggest college game of the season. It's not arguably (since its LSU VT, two top 10 teams) it is no doubt the biggest game... so far. In true Dan fashion, its two weeks in. There are much more important games to come. VT will lose but that doesn't guarantee LSU anything cause they still have to fight through the SEC.

He's saying Brohm is the second coming after the great #s he put up yesterday (not against Tennessee... but Middle Tennessee so who cares).

Ankiel is now the biggest cheater ever and apparently is the biggest story of the year according to Dan yet the HGH stuff was 3 years ago when he was failing in a comeback as a pitcher. WHO CARES?

It's too bad Oregon St. doesn't have a QB and that the entire team laid an egg as it would have been nice having both them and ASU going 3-0 into the Sep. 22 game. Way to blow it for the Pac OSU.

So 17 comments and nobody even mentions that the Colts D might just be extremely improved over last year? Everyone realizes they gave up 3 points to the best offense of last year, right? Oh well.. I realize this is only week 1, but as a resident of Indy I have been one of those nervous all off season about the losses on the defense. Well, now I think I see what the local homers on the sports radio shows are talking about when they kept saying this was going to be a better team then last year.

I am sure there will be some bumps in the road, but to see them shut down a rushing attack that would have killed them a year ago was inspiring. I would now say I think they have a legit shot to repeat this year, or at least deserve a little more respect in the national media. Of couse I say that and now recall that after the game last night Sean Salisbury was already strapping on the kneepads as he was giving props to the Colts.. lol

@ Brian in Oxford:THANK YOU! I've been trying to break the mainstream idea of a "1st place schedule" since they changed the format. With the yearly volatility of playoff teams, it is often likely that a "2nd" or "3rd" place team plays a more difficult schedule than a "1st" place team (at least in the NFC; the AFC is pretty stable in the top 8).

either way the Saints are overrated and they WILL NOT make the playoffs. The thing about the NFL is when you have a new coach, new QB, New RB, and New WR you do not have a lot of film on how they play and what there tendancies are but the league has a full years worth of film now and will find ways to slow down the Saints offense. And looking at there D last night they are going to be in a lot of trouble.

First game of the year, can't take too much for it. So the Colts beat the Saints... is there really any surprise in that?

I think the schedule point you guys have made is a good point, but I don't think that means that Saints aren't a good team (at least in the NFC), and that they won't make the playoffs.

It's the first game of the season, and they looked out of rhythm against the defending super bowl champs in Indy, can we not jump to the conclusion that the Saints are a bad team (again, at least by NFC standards)?

it ain't Cashman bro. He may have executed those moves as the "GM," It's Steinbrenner and the Tampa brass that made all those moves. If you noticed, Cashman sat tight this year, with the exception of Clemens, but whatever i guess. HGH SUCKS!

Kevin Youkilis on Wednesday set the American League season record for consecutive errorless games by a first baseman, 122, and last night tied Mike Hegan for the AL record for consecutive errorless games (178). Hegan, playing for Milwaukee and Oakland at the time, started just 52 games during his streak and handled 787 chances. Youkilis has handled 1,507 chances. The big league record for consecutive errorless games is 193, held by Steve Garvey when he was with the Padres (1983-85) . .

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.